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A wonderful Spanish song based around the 2004 Madrid train bombing.
The translation is not perfect but good enough to read along:
Si fuera más guapa y un poco más lista
If I were prettier and smarter
Si fuera especial, si fuera de revista
If I were special; if I looked like a model
Tendría el valor de cruzar el vagón
I might have the courage to cross the carriage
Y preguntarte quién eres
And ask you who you are.
Te sientas enfrente y ni te imaginas
You sit in front and do not even notice
Que llevo por ti mi falda más bonita
That I am wearing my special skirt for you
Y al verte lanzar un bostezo al cristal
And on seeing me you heave a yawn at the window pane.
Se inundan mis pupilas
My eyes well up.
De pronto me miras, te miro y suspiras.
Suddenly you look at me, I look at you and you sigh.
Yo cierro los ojos, tú apartas la vista
I close my eyes, you look away.
Apenas respiro me hago pequeñita
I hardly breathe; I feel small
Y me pongo a temblar
And I begin to tremble.
Y así pasan los días de lunes a viernes.
And thus pass the days from Monday to Friday
Como las golondrinas del poema de Bécquer
Like the swallows from the poem by Bécquer.
De estación a estación en frente tú y yo
From station to station, in front of you and me
Va y viene el silencio
The silence comes and goes.
De pronto me miras, te miro y suspiras.
Suddenly you look at me, I look at you and you sigh.
Yo cierro los ojos, tú apartas la vista
I close my eyes, you look away.
Apenas respiro me hago pequeñita
I hardly breathe; I feel small
Y me pongo a temblar
And I begin to tremble.
Y entonces ocurre, despiertan mis labios
And then it happens, my lips wake up
Pronuncian tu nombre tartamudeando.
And then it happens, my lips wake up
Pronuncian tu nombre tartamudeando.
Stuttering your name.
Supongo que piensas «Qué chica más tonta»
Supongo que piensas «Qué chica más tonta»
I assume that you are thinking “What a silly girl!”
Y me quiero morir
And I want to die
And I want to die
Pero el tiempo se para y te acercas diciendo
But then time stops and you move closer saying
«Yo aún no te conozco y ya te echaba de menos.
“I do not even know you and I already miss you.
Cada mañana rechazo el directo
Every morning I skip the non-stop one
Y elijo este tren»
And take this train”
Y ya estamos llegando, mi vida ha cambiado.
As we are about to arrive, my life has changed.
Un día especial este once de marzo.
A special day, this eleventh of March
Me tomas la mano, llegamos a un túnel
You take my hand, we arrive at a tunnel
Que apaga la luz
And it goes dark.
Te encuentro la cara gracias a mis manos.
I find your face with my hands.
Me vuelvo valiente y te beso en los labios.
I gather courage and kiss you on the lips.
Dices que me quieres y yo te regalo
You say that you love me and I give you
El último soplo de mi corazón
The last faint beat of my heart.
Do you realize that tomorrow:
1. your spouse could get killed in an accident?
2. your child could be hit by a car?
3. your girlfriend could dump you for another guy more endowed than you?
3. you could be diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, perhaps sexually transmitted HIV which you contracted through your girlfriend who contracted it through the above mentioned well-endowed guy?
4. your bank could file for bankruptcy and you could lose all your money?
If you want to be safe, buy the Hanuman Shanti Kawach, for only $125 (excluding shipping and handling).
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Blame it on the dhaba where I often have lunch. They have a good taste in food, not television channels.
Today a friend lent me The Fountainhead. I have been meaning to read it for a decade now so I started reading as soon as I got it. I reached the third paragraph of the book:
He stood, rigid, his hands hanging at his sides, palms out.
and all I could think of was Shah Rukh Khan.
FML.
On Manmohan Singh’s live press event last week where he answered questions (or did he?):
On at least three occasions, the prime minister literally requested the media not to just highlight ‘negative’ issues but also project the ‘good work’ of the government.
He forgot he was not speaking to journalists on a Nira Radia tape.
The Atlantic on Libyan protests:
Already, fragmentary but credible reports from Tripoli claim that security forces are firing indiscriminately into the crowds gathering in Green Square. Terrified eyewitnesses say that Toyota Land Cruisers carrying armed men, believed to be mercenaries from Sub-Saharan Africa, are strafing protesters in drive-by shootings. Military planes are circling over the city in an implicit threat of what has become the greatest immediate fear in Libya: that Qaddafi will order his air force to massacre civilians. Early reports that the planes have made strafing runs on the crowd may be false; such an attack would be difficult to the point of unfeasible in a city as dense as Tripoli, and protesters may simply be hearing ground-based machine gun fire. On Monday afternoon, at least two Libyan jet fighters requested emergency landing at Malta; Al Jazeera reports the pilots are requesting to defect after refusing orders to bomb protesters in Benghazi. These early reports have yet to be confirmed and may turn out to be false. But whether or not the air force attacks, what seems significant is that many protesters believe it could or that it already has, yet press on anyway in what they fully expect to be all-out war with the regime.
And this is horrific if confirmed to be true:
Libyan warplanes were bombing indiscriminately across Tripoli on Monday, a resident of the Libyan capital told al Jazeera television in a live broadcast.
“What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead,” Adel Mohamed Saleh said. Saleh, who called himself a political activist, said the bombings had initially targeted a funeral procession. “Our people are dying. It is the policy of scorched earth.” he said. “Every 20 minutes they are bombing.”
To state the obvious, we don’t have place on earth for dictators like Qaddafi who have no respect for others’ rights. The same also applies to armies that commit similar violations under the garb of legitimacy.
A superb takedown of Malcolm Gladwell:
Let us wish that Malcolm Gladwell returns to acting in Close-Up commercials.
Original image at XKCD.
Remember that news about Bappi Lahiri being the first Indian on the Grammy jury?
While I was writing the post, I wondered why the only results for the search query ‘Grammy jury‘ were those of Bappi Lahiri claiming he was the first Indian on the Grammy jury. Karthik of itwofs has more on it: A blogger had done a mini-exposé of Bappida’s claims and was forced to take down his post. Now it’s been a few years since I have been blogging and I still haven’t been served a single legal notice. Therefore, here’s that post (A Grammy representative responds to an Economic Times article with Bappida’s claims):
MUMBAI: Bollywood music composer Bappi Lahiri has added another feather to his cap by becoming the first Indian composer to be in the Grammy jury for the awards in 2012.
There is no such thing as a jury. We have voting members who cast their ballot during GRAMMY balloting. He is currently a non-voting member. However, he may qualify for a Voting membership but we would need to do some additional research on our end to see if he qualifies. Also, we don’t track who is first in anything as it relates to membership. He might be the first Indian composer but there would be no way for us to verify that information.
“I will be a jury member in the Grammy awards next year. I will be among the members, who vote to decide a winner. This is the first time an Indian composer is being given this place,” Lahiri told IANS.
Again, he is currently NOT a Voting member and there is noway to confirm a claim that it’s the first time an Indian composer has been made a Voting member.
This year Lahiri had also sent in his album “World, Peace And harmony” for the prestigious awards. It got him a spot in the top 50 Grammy albums but, however, lost out on the main five nominations.
This is not 100% accurate. His album MAY have been submitted for consideration. I cannot verify that at the moment. But if it had it just means we accepted it because it met our criteria. To say it got him a spot in the Top 50 albums is untrue. It may mean that 50 albums were submitted in that category. But albums are not “ranked” during the submission process or during any part of the process. The only claim that could be made by anyone is that they were in the top 5, making them a GRAMMY Nominee.
In the album released only in US, the 58-year-old composer has collaborated with popular saxophone player Gerald Albright and himself sang and also played the tabla.
If this is true, then he probably would qualify to be a Voting member, but we would need to research it. I am going to put a member of my staff on it. We may change him to Voting depending on what we discover.
This year the Grammy Awards will be presented Feb 13 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
This is accurate.
Read Karthik’s post here.
Boy killed for protecting sister from molesters.
Great photographs of Kashmiris celebrating Prophet Mohammad’s birthday at the Hazratbal shrine.
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Seeing those photographs, I came up with an incredibly hilarious joke — the best joke I have ever invented — but I’d rather not mention it here.
